Advice and Tools
For every step of your Ostomy Journey
SASS aims to advocate and align the standard of Stoma care and services across South Africa which will be applicable to both the private and public sectors.
Ostomy Care
Tips and Tricks
The South African Society of Stomates (SASS) is a Non-profit organization formed by Ostomates across Southern Africa to facilitate a “holistic” approach to ostomy patient care by bridging the gap between the private and public sectors whilst advocating for the rights of fellow ostomates throughout the country.
SASS VALUE STATEMENT
SASS is dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of ostomates across South Africa. We strive to bridge the gap between private and public healthcare sectors, ensuring that all ostomates receive the highest standard of care.
Our mission is to provide comprehensive support, education, and resources to empower ostomates and their families, helping them navigate their new normal with confidence and dignity. By collaborating closely with clinicians and healthcare professionals, we ensure that our community receives expert care and guidance.
Aligning with global standards set by The International Ostomy Association (IOA), we aim to foster a community where every ostomate feels supported, informed, and valued.
Featured Topics
For Living with a Colostomy, Ileostomy or Urostomy
Help us achieve
What we set out to achieve with YOUR help
GET EDUCATED
Medically reviewed surgery-specific information. Making sure you have access to the best possible care. Ostomy pouch management tips, diet & nutrition, skincare, sexuality, travel tips and more!
FEEL SUPPORTED
Support to you & your family whilst you transition into your new normal. You will have access to a local peer support group, where you can get answers to questions, or connect with our Facebook community.
BE AN ADVOCATE
We aim to advocate the standard of Stoma care across private and public sectors, whilst aligning with the global standards set out by The International Ostomy Association (IOA).
Check you Skin
Your stoma deserves skincare too — and it only takes 5 minutes.
We’re loving the Coloplast ARC Method:
💧Apply. 🔄 Remove. 👀 Check.
It’s a simple, effective way to protect your peristomal skin and stop leaks before they start.
✔️ Make it part of your routine:
✔️ Apply your system correctly
✔️ Remove gently and safely
✔️ Check your skin every time
Look out for redness, irritation, or changes in output, and if anything feels off, reach out. SASS has videos, guides, and support to keep you thriving.
✨ Download our Survival Guide now:
👉 https://sasstomates.org.za/survival-guide/
You’ve got this — and we’ve got you.
#ColoplastARC #StomaSkinCare #CheckYourself #SASSLink #SASSYandStrong #PeristomalGlowUp
Check you Skin
Your stoma deserves skincare too — and it only takes 5 minutes.
We’re loving the Coloplast ARC Method:
💧Apply. 🔄 Remove. 👀 Check.
It’s a simple, effective way to protect your peristomal skin and stop leaks before they start.
✔️ Make it part of your routine:
✔️ Apply your system correctly
✔️ Remove gently and safely
✔️ Check your skin every time
Look out for redness, irritation, or changes in output, and if anything feels off, reach out. SASS has videos, guides, and support to keep you thriving.
✨ Download our Survival Guide now:
👉 https://sasstomates.org.za/survival-guide/
You’ve got this — and we’ve got you.
#ColoplastARC #StomaSkinCare #CheckYourself #SASSLink #SASSYandStrong #PeristomalGlowUp
🌍 Expanding Knowledge. Building Community. Changing Lives.
This week, SASS is proud to participate in a 3-day Project ECHO training — a groundbreaking learning model that connects healthcare professionals, community workers, and advocates through collaborative, case-based learning.
Over the next three days, we’ll be learning alongside changemakers from across the African continent and India — creating a vibrant, international community united by a shared goal: to improve access, understanding, and support in healthcare.
For SASS, this is more than a workshop. It’s a step toward:
💡 Strengthening education in stoma care
🤝 Equipping frontline workers and peer supporters
🗣️ Raising the profile of ostomates and their unique needs
🧠 Supporting the psycho-social wellbeing of our community
We’re excited about the potential this model holds for our advocacy and education work in South Africa — and beyond.
#SASS #StrongerTogether #ProjectECHO #OstomyCare #HealthEquity #StomaSupport #OstomatesMatter #GlobalHealth #CommunityHealth #ECHOForChange
🌍 Expanding Knowledge. Building Community. Changing Lives.
This week, SASS is proud to participate in a 3-day Project ECHO training — a groundbreaking learning model that connects healthcare professionals, community workers, and advocates through collaborative, case-based learning.
Over the next three days, we’ll be learning alongside changemakers from across the African continent and India — creating a vibrant, international community united by a shared goal: to improve access, understanding, and support in healthcare.
For SASS, this is more than a workshop. It’s a step toward:
💡 Strengthening education in stoma care
🤝 Equipping frontline workers and peer supporters
🗣️ Raising the profile of ostomates and their unique needs
🧠 Supporting the psycho-social wellbeing of our community
We’re excited about the potential this model holds for our advocacy and education work in South Africa — and beyond.
#SASS #StrongerTogether #ProjectECHO #OstomyCare #HealthEquity #StomaSupport #OstomatesMatter #GlobalHealth #CommunityHealth #ECHOForChange
💙 Durban, Let’s Walk (or Run) for a Cause! 💙
📣 SASS is proud to support our friends at @o@ostomatekzn in their Ostomy Charity Race — a fun run/walk with a powerful purpose.
📍 WHERE: uShaka Marine World to Suncoast Casino
📅 WHEN: Saturday, 19 July 2025
⏰ TIME: 08:00 – 11:00
🎟️ ENTRY: R200 (via Webtickets or at Pick n Pay / Boxer)
🧡 Whether you’re an ostomate, a loved one, a nurse, or an ally — this is your chance to walk in solidarity, raise awareness, and help fund essential ostomy care and support in KZN.
🌟 WHY JOIN?
✅ Raise funds to provide pouching supplies
✅ Support trauma counseling & peer support
✅ Help educate communities & caregivers
✅ Fight stigma with every step 👣
🎯 Fundraising Goal: R200,000
✨ HOW TO JOIN:
Sign up: Link in bio or go to www.ostomatekzn.org
Walk/run the 5km route
Share your journey & tag:
📸 @ostomatekzn @sass.ostomates
🟠 Hashtags: #OstomyCharityRace #SASSupport #OstomatesOnTheMove
Let’s show up for inclusion, dignity, and health justice.
Because Human Rights Are Stoma Rights.
👟 See you at the start line, Durban!
💙 Durban, Let’s Walk (or Run) for a Cause! 💙
📣 SASS is proud to support our friends at @o@ostomatekzn in their Ostomy Charity Race — a fun run/walk with a powerful purpose.
📍 WHERE: uShaka Marine World to Suncoast Casino
📅 WHEN: Saturday, 19 July 2025
⏰ TIME: 08:00 – 11:00
🎟️ ENTRY: R200 (via Webtickets or at Pick n Pay / Boxer)
🧡 Whether you’re an ostomate, a loved one, a nurse, or an ally — this is your chance to walk in solidarity, raise awareness, and help fund essential ostomy care and support in KZN.
🌟 WHY JOIN?
✅ Raise funds to provide pouching supplies
✅ Support trauma counseling & peer support
✅ Help educate communities & caregivers
✅ Fight stigma with every step 👣
🎯 Fundraising Goal: R200,000
✨ HOW TO JOIN:
Sign up: Link in bio or go to www.ostomatekzn.org
Walk/run the 5km route
Share your journey & tag:
📸 @ostomatekzn @sass.ostomates
🟠 Hashtags: #OstomyCharityRace #SASSupport #OstomatesOnTheMove
Let’s show up for inclusion, dignity, and health justice.
Because Human Rights Are Stoma Rights.
👟 See you at the start line, Durban!
If you Know You Know
This Is a Human Rights Issue
⚖️ "Section 27 of the Constitution guarantees health care. That includes ostomy care."
The Constitution isn’t optional. When ostomates are denied pouches, they are denied health, dignity, and freedom of movement. We will not stop until these rights are real for everyone, everywhere.
#HumanRightsAreStomaRights #HealthJustice #SASSAdvocacy
This Is a Human Rights Issue
⚖️ "Section 27 of the Constitution guarantees health care. That includes ostomy care."
The Constitution isn’t optional. When ostomates are denied pouches, they are denied health, dignity, and freedom of movement. We will not stop until these rights are real for everyone, everywhere.
#HumanRightsAreStomaRights #HealthJustice #SASSAdvocacy
Why we need More Stoma Nurses
🏥 Over 820,000 Ostomates. Fewer than 100 Qualified Stoma Nurses.
That’s one nurse for every 8,200 ostomates — a ratio that makes quality care impossible.
This critical shortage contributes directly to the mismanagement of stoma care, leading to preventable infections, skin damage, delayed healing, and avoidable hospital readmissions.
But it doesn’t end there.
Without proper guidance and follow-up, thousands of ostomates face their recovery alone — often in pain, isolated, and ashamed. The psychosocial toll is enormous.
SASS is calling for a national training and deployment programme to equip nurses with the skills to care for this community with the dignity they deserve.
This is not just a staffing gap. It’s a healthcare failure.
#TrainOurNurses #OstomyCareCrisis #SASSFightsForCare #HumanRightsInHealthcare
Why we need More Stoma Nurses
🏥 Over 820,000 Ostomates. Fewer than 100 Qualified Stoma Nurses.
That’s one nurse for every 8,200 ostomates — a ratio that makes quality care impossible.
This critical shortage contributes directly to the mismanagement of stoma care, leading to preventable infections, skin damage, delayed healing, and avoidable hospital readmissions.
But it doesn’t end there.
Without proper guidance and follow-up, thousands of ostomates face their recovery alone — often in pain, isolated, and ashamed. The psychosocial toll is enormous.
SASS is calling for a national training and deployment programme to equip nurses with the skills to care for this community with the dignity they deserve.
This is not just a staffing gap. It’s a healthcare failure.
#TrainOurNurses #OstomyCareCrisis #SASSFightsForCare #HumanRightsInHealthcare
Why Pouch Fit Matters
“Think of peristomal skin like a baby’s bottom — the wrong fit and too much time between changes causes damage.”
Just like a nappy that doesn’t fit or isn’t changed in time causes painful rashes, a poorly fitted ostomy pouch can cause burning, broken skin, fungal infections — and even land someone in hospital.
Your peristomal skin needs protection, not punishment.
SASS is actively advocating for:
Access to the right pouching systems (including convexity) in the public sector, and
Nurse training to help ostomates assess and manage their fit.
Don’t wait for skin damage to start. Learn more about pouch fit at sass.org.za.
#PeristomalSkinMatters #PouchFitSavesSkin #NappyRashLogic #SASSAdvocacy #StomaCareIsHealthcare
Why Pouch Fit Matters
“Think of peristomal skin like a baby’s bottom — the wrong fit and too much time between changes causes damage.”
Just like a nappy that doesn’t fit or isn’t changed in time causes painful rashes, a poorly fitted ostomy pouch can cause burning, broken skin, fungal infections — and even land someone in hospital.
Your peristomal skin needs protection, not punishment.
SASS is actively advocating for:
Access to the right pouching systems (including convexity) in the public sector, and
Nurse training to help ostomates assess and manage their fit.
Don’t wait for skin damage to start. Learn more about pouch fit at sass.org.za.
#PeristomalSkinMatters #PouchFitSavesSkin #NappyRashLogic #SASSAdvocacy #StomaCareIsHealthcare
The Cost of Survival
A loaf of bread. A few groceries. A stoma pouch.
For too many South African ostomates, the struggle isn’t just medical — it’s economic. Without enough pouches, or without the right pouching system, people begin rationing in ways that are hard to imagine.
They start skipping meals, believing that eating less will mean fewer pouch changes. They limit fluids. They isolate themselves. And slowly, silently, they start to disappear from life.
This is what happens when patients are not given the medical appliances they need to live with dignity.
The cost isn’t just measured in rands. It’s measured in malnutrition, poor wound healing, shame, and lost livelihoods.
We must do better. Every ostomate deserves access to appropriate pouching systems — not as a luxury, but as a basic human right.
#OstomyAwareness #DignityForAll #StrongerTogether #SASS #InvisibleStruggles #AccessMatters #StomaCareIsHealthcare
The Cost of Survival
A loaf of bread. A few groceries. A stoma pouch.
For too many South African ostomates, the struggle isn’t just medical — it’s economic. Without enough pouches, or without the right pouching system, people begin rationing in ways that are hard to imagine.
They start skipping meals, believing that eating less will mean fewer pouch changes. They limit fluids. They isolate themselves. And slowly, silently, they start to disappear from life.
This is what happens when patients are not given the medical appliances they need to live with dignity.
The cost isn’t just measured in rands. It’s measured in malnutrition, poor wound healing, shame, and lost livelihoods.
We must do better. Every ostomate deserves access to appropriate pouching systems — not as a luxury, but as a basic human right.
#OstomyAwareness #DignityForAll #StrongerTogether #SASS #InvisibleStruggles #AccessMatters #StomaCareIsHealthcare
SASS Blog
What has been happening at SASS
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